


Kiss of Death

by Maone



Category: Rush Hour (TV 2016)
Genre: LOTS of violence, M/M, Mild Gore, harrassed into writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-20 12:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9490556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maone/pseuds/Maone
Summary: Carter and Lee get kidnapped and somebody is going to die.Story has been rewritten in the Rush Hour(1998) tag





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try a little bit different look on Lee and Carter, watching their characters interract and their way of dealing with stressful situations helped to give me some image on how things could develop between them from scratch. The show never developed their relationship beyond the starting point and writers are handed rough base.
> 
> I thought of it as a good challenge, since my writing skills are still in their beginnings, so I hope you'll enjoy the story, if not, feel free to criticize.

_Late night in L.A_

The brightness of street lights dimly lit an alley where two figures stood leaning against a wall, both men close enough to see cars turning around the corner across the road, but far enough to remain unnoticed by the passersby.

The shorter man, quickly bored of standing in one place, begun to pace the width of the alley while his partner remained still as a statue in his spot.

"Please, don't give me that look," the short man sighed, painfully aware of his partner's stare even in the darkness. The man in question gave him a look of puzzlement."What look?" he retorted.

" _That_ look, Lee." the short man stuck his finger up in direction where he assumed was his partner's face.

  
" _Carter_ , what makes you believe that I'll know what are you talking about if you stick a finger in my face?"

  
There was a moment of silence before Carter murmured."This is why you have no friends."  
  
"I have friends." Lee replied, unaffected.  
"Not for long with that attitude, boy - Listen, I know what I'm doing okay? My contact says that the drug deal is gonna take place on Milvood Ave at 11pm tonight -" "It's 12:30-" " _Yes_ , I am aware Lee! Not all bad guys have OCD like you, they can still show up."

Lee hmmed at that."You make a lot of assumptions."

  
"When you have to steal your partners wallet to find out his name, assumptions are what you settle with." Carter shrugged.  
"So you did steal my wallet!" Lee hissed and Carter raised his hands in a diplomatic manner.

  
"Look, can we focus on the matter at hand, please?! We haven't had a proper case like this in two weeks and I don't want us getting distracted over minor issues."

  
"You are the one getting distracted, not me." Lee huffed.

Carter just rolled his eyes and let the silence settle between them yet again.

They kept their strained partnership to themselves, at least Carter wanted to keep it that way. Lee started to grow on him and even though he made him look like a fool on many occassions, Carter actually enjoyed having him around and maybe, just maybe he really hoped that Lee would feel the same way.

It hasn't started off very well for them and even after two months of working together it didn't look like they were making much progress. Partially it was their mutual stubborness on how things should be done; Lee was used to different approach to his job in Hong Kong, while Carter, who was much more of a happy go lucky guy had his own way.

Hopefully, this case would make them work better with each other.  
  


_20 minutes later_

The traffic on the road next to them has rendered to practically nothing and their surroundings became eerily quiet.

"They are not coming, are they?" Lee said, breaking the silence. It was more of a statement than a question.

Carter looked left and right, but saw no signs of the drug dealers, or anyone else for that matter. He didn't understand.

"Something's not right, Lee." Carter frowned.

"Yes, that would be your contact." Lee replied. Carter shook his head. "No, that's not it."

Alarms blazing in his mind, Carter grabbed Lee's wrist and dragged him further into the darkness of the alley, the man flinching in surprise at the gesture. "What are you doing, Carter?" Lee asked, irritation mixing with confusion. His partner however, didn't reply and that was alarming enough for Lee to understand and stay quiet.

Carter pulled them behind one of the dumpsters, dragging Lee down with him. He then slowly moved to look at the spot they were standing at moments ago, Lee following his example.

At first, nothing happened, everything was still quiet and no cars drove by, Lee was about to say something, when Carter raised his hand in front of his face so fast he nearly hit him. 

_Be quiet._

Lee looked at Carter in irritation, but stayed silent.

Finally they heard something, heavy footsteps.

"That's funny, first ones who didn't fall for it."

Carter moved over so Lee could look at what's going on as well. They saw two figures walking straight to the alley, they looked around before pulling out something. Lee quickly pulled back, dragging Carter away from the edge as well as bright light shone in their direction, scouring slowly from side to side, both Lee and Carter had to remain tightly pressed against the dumpster as there was very little room to hide in. Carter instinctively placing his hand against Lee's legs, to keep them from poking out.

"They're hiding."

The voice didn't sound far, yet when they looked, both men were on the other side of the alley. They were moving closer.

Thanks to them moving their position closer to the other side of the alley, the angle of the street light allowed Lee to see Carter's face more clearly.

Fear.

Lee wanted to ask him what's wrong. What was going on, did he knew these men? Why doesn't he want to fight them?

Before he can speculate the answer for his questions, the bright light is gone.

"Let's check their car."

The voice was followed by more heavy footsteps that grew distant with each step until it was silent again.

The hand on Lee's legs was shaking.

"Carter?" Lee finally spoke out, Carter's behavior was unnerving him.

Carter swiftly stood up from his spot and started heading out of the alley in the opposite direction the men left.

"Carter, what did just happen here? Why did we hide? And why are you so scared?" Lee wasn't usually in the position of asking these questions, but there is a first time for everything.

"These were no drug dealers, Lee." Carter replied, looking around the street ahead of them.

_Now we're checking if the coast is clear?_

"I figured as much, but you seem to know them." Lee followed him closely, looking around just as much, even though he didn't know for what.

"I wouldn't say I know them, since anyone from our line of work that got close enough to know them is having a meeting six feet under."

Lee paused at that for a second. "They kill police officers?"

Carter pulled out his phone and kept walking, away from his car. He dials a number and looks at Lee.

"They used to trick cops into following cases that they wouldn't think about bringing back up to, then the cops would go missing and their body parts would be shipped to the station they used to work at. It was a sick hunting game." Carter cursed and put the phone back in his pocket.

"No signal?" Lee asked.

"No. It's jammed." Carter shook his head, his shoulders sagging.

"Which means?"

"It means we have to get the fuck out of here, because now? They are hunting us."

 


	2. Don't Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hunt begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare your nerves, because all hell's breaking loose.  
> Please be aware that this chapter is still not actually fully edited, so mild fuck ups ahead.  
> Chapter inspired by following music.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ43rCEAQok

They must have ran at least three blocks before Carter finally stopped and pulled out his phone again. Both men were out of breath, but no one seemed to be following them. Not yet anyway.  
  
Carter pressed his back against a wall of one of the many houses that surrounded them and dialed a number yet again. Lee was unsure who he was trying to call, but assumed that Carter was just trying to call for backup. While his partner was making the attempt to get some help, Lee took in their area. Houses. Houses in every direction, but not any average buildings either, these homes looked very nice, ideal for wealthy citizens. That made him wonder.  
  
"Carter?" he spoke up, keeping his voice low as they were still unsure how safe were they at the moment.  
  
"Yeah?" Carter replied, his eyes fixed on the phone.  
  
"How well do you know your contact?"  
  
That made Carter look up and frown at Lee. "I always got good intel from them, if they wanted to set me up with a cop killer gang they could have done that ages ago."  
  
Lee shrugged.  
  
"They might have been building your trust, so something like this could happen."  
  
"And what brought up this suspicion?"  
  
"Have you ever seen a drug deal take place in wealthy street where nearly every house has a security camera?"  
  
Carter thought about that for a second, he never considered that when he took the job.  
  
"Alright, I'll give you that," he admits.  
  
"Is there any reason why they'd want to target you, Carter?"  
  
Lee could see his partner getting uncomfortable with those questions as the man turned to stare at the phone that had no hope of working, avoiding his look.  
  
"About as much of a reason as you do. I told you, I never met them in person," he shrugged. Lee's suspicion grew.  
  
"You're keeping something from me." Lee said with accussion.  
  
"Come on, Lee -"  
  
Carter abruptly stopped talking as he heard something. Distant sound of car engine approaching, Carter and Lee gave each other a quick look before jumping over a wall of one of the houses they stood nearby, crouching and frozen in spot. Once they heard the car drive past them, they stood up to check if the coast is clear.  
  
"Do you think that was them?" Lee kept his voice low, as he became increasingly cautious.  
  
"I don't know, but I'd rather be damn paranoid than dead. We have to get out of this area,I don't want to play cat and mouse with a murderer on their killing grounds. Come on, Lee." Carter's fear begun to mix with frustration. Neither of them felt safe.  
  
They jumped over the wall and headed back to the road. Both men cautiously looking around, trying to stay out of the light.  
  
"How long do you think they'll look for us?" Lee asked.  
  
"Well, my phone is still jammed, did you check yours?" Carter replied.  
  
Lee pulled his phone out of pocket, seeing his signal on zero, he shook his head.  
  
"Great." Carter grumbled.  
  
He paid attention to every sound around him with such a precaution that he didn't realize that something was missing, he didn't hear the sound of Lee's footsteps. Lee wasn't following him anymore. Carter swiftly turned around, worry building up, as he looked for his partner. Then he saw him.  
  
Lee was standing several steps back, hand loosely resting on a lamp post and his eyes fixed on Carter. "Lee?" Carter whispered. Lee's lips parted but no sound came out.  
  
Carter could feel his blood freeze in his veins as he finally saw it. Dart sticking out of his partner's neck.  
  
Oh no.  
  
Lee crumpled to the ground and Carter cried out his name. He looked around in panic, but it was so dark he couldn't see anything.They found them. Before he managed to get to Lee, he felt a prick in his own neck and shortly after everything turned to blur and the world became black.  
  
  
                                            ______________________________________________  
  
"....me?"  
  
"Hey...."  
  
".....ake up, man."  
  
"Come on!"  
  
Carter shot up, blinking rapidly. His head ached from the tranquilizer and his vision still blurred, but slowly and surely he started to have a clear look on his surroundings.  
  
It seemed to be some sort of factory, the smell was awful, decay and rust. Then he realized what he wasn't seeing. "Where's Lee?"  
  
"Lee? That your partner?" He heard an unfamiliar voice. His eyes followed its source. There was a man sitting on the ground across from him, watching him intently.  
"Who are you?"Carter asked.

  
"Another poor fucker that's going to die down here, what about you?" The main replied, his expression unreadable. He didn't seem to be okay in the head anymore.

"I'm-I got caught along with my partner, have you seen him?"

The man shook his head.

  
"Sorry to hear that, man. You were alone when they brought you in."

  
Terrible thoughts flashed through Carter's mind and the man clearly noticed.

  
"If they wanted to kill him, they would have done it before they captured you," the man sighed,"that's how they got my partner, Nick."  
  
"I'm sorry."Carter said in compassion.  
  
"It's alright, it's clear that they don't like to waste time with those they don't need." seeing Carter's look, he made a motion to his neck "Snapped it, quick and clean,you see, they wouldn't dare to spill any blood anywhere outside this place."  
  
"What even is this place?" Carter stared at the tall rusting pillars surrounding them.  
  
"The only way to describe it is the 'sick fucks playground'." The man sighed.  
  
"How long have you been here?"

  
The man shrugged.

  
"I don't know, there's no windows, no clock, the only way to pass time here is to think about how much time do I have left until I end up like one of those guys before me."  
  
"Shit."Carter cursed, which made the man laugh for whatever reason.  
  
"That's what they all say when it's their time, eventually it went from 'Shit' to 'We're going to die'. "

  
Carter couldn't believe the man's acceptance of their situation, at the same time he wondered what the poor guy must have seen during his stay here.  
  
"Have you tried getting out?" He asked.

  
The man's expression went grim and his blank eyes moved up, to stare at the rusted ceiling.

  
"You smell that, right? The stench? Yeah, that's the smell of people that tried." He said, eyes still fixed on the ceiling, as if he saw something that Carter couldn't.  
  
"We can't just let them kill us!" Cried Carter, the man's indifferent reaction to everything that's going on making him angry. The man appeared to be unphased by Carter's outburst as his eyes calmly moved to stare at him now, Carter felt great uneasiness from that stare.  
"You are a cop aren't you? Just like me? You and I, we both know that once these people capture a cop, he's not coming back alive."  
  
"If I could get to my partner at least..."  
  
"You should be glad that you'll get to die without having to see him be brutalized. It's unbearable when I see them do it to complete strangers, to think they would do this to someone that matters to me," the man swallowed thickly,"in a way, I'm glad they killed Nick the way they did-"  
  
Suddenly a haunting alarm started blazing around them, the echo giving Carter chills, it felt like a horror movie. The man paled in face, but his panic was quickly covered with the same cold mask it has been before. He carefully stood up and dusted off his already ruined pants.  
  
"Shadow is going to be your best friend if you are hoping to survive more than one hunt. If you don't, I pray that your death is swift."The man said.

He walked towards one of the many dark hallways spread in front of them and stopped at the entrance of one. Hesitating for a moment, he turned around one more time to face Carter, small smile forming on his lips. "I hope you'll find your partner, buddy." And with that, he walked into the darkness and out of Carter's sight.

He was on his own.

 

 

 


	3. The Survival

Carter was surrounded by darkness.

And he was terrified out of his mind. His vision struggling to adjust with no source light around and his thoughts scattered all over the place. Where is Lee? What is this place?  What is this hunt about? Are there people looking for him, is that it? Are they running around with their guns out, ready to shoot him like a goddamn animal? And what after that? He shivered. Something he'd rather not find out.

His hands blindly searched for something to support himself against, that man said there were traps, how would he know if he can't see anything? His hand finally touched cold metal wall with smooth surface and he started making his way forward, whatever direction that was, step by step, praying that he doesn't trigger anything.

A cold wind hit him and Carter felt a small glimmer of hope, wind meant an open area. Maybe an exit?

Making his way to it's source, he suddenly tripped over something and nearly fell straight on his face, catching his balance at last second. He blindly nudged his leg against it and felt the soft fleshy texture and the stench it released after something very soundly fell off. The stench nearly made him puke and Carter's free hand shot up to cover his mouth and nose. He felt a wetness the obstruction made on his jeans, seeping through and sticking to his skin. He was almost convinced that this was one of the unfortunate attempted escapees.

_That guy said those traps were at exits, right?!_

Carter would almost admit that he was excited, regardless of his grim encounter. He couldn't believe that he'd find a way out this fast, that was almost too good to be true. If he just kept going -

Loud scream echoed through the halls and Carter jumped, his back pressed tightly against the wall as he frantically looked left and right, as if he could see whatever danger was approaching. Very shortly after the scream, a loud gunshot and Carter could feel his blood freeze in his veins, if that was even still possible.

They got someone, those sick fucks caught some poor bastard. Was it that guy?

Was it Lee?

Carter swallowed, but shook his head, no, there's no way in hell they would get Lee faster than him, Lee's too good to let that happen.

But where the hell was he?! Even if Carter managed to find an exit, there's no way he's just going to leave Lee running around with bunch of psychopaths chasing after him.

Carter cursed his lack of vision, if he at least knew where the hell was he going.

Several steps later, he could feel the wall end, he didn't want to take the extra step to check if there was another direction to go or if it was still the same hall, so he kept tracing the metal wall around the corner, feeling the cold wind getting stronger.

Then more screaming, this time whoever it was, they begged not to be shot. Their tearful pleas turning to incoherent gurgling sounds. Another one gone. If Carter could panic more, he would, he definitely would. How many more people were there?

Unconsciously he uncreased his pace, desperation to get away becoming stronger than caution. He noticed, that the stench that his nose was starting to get used to at this point, became more intense the closer he got to the source of that cold wind. That was weird. However, he couldn't turn around anymore, if he did, it would just mean going to where the others were dying and he wanted to get away from the sound of screaming, not towards it.

Soon after, he came across another corner, this time he felt it curving at nearly full 180 degree turn. Before he could freak out about it being a dead end, he felt the wall splitting this corner and sighed. It was just a really sharp turn, odd design for a factory, this was something more for a maze if anything. Then again, nobody said this was a factory, just that it looked like one. Carter didn't know if they didn't just build this place exclusively for killing people. It wouldn't surprise him, he knew about these people for years and -

Once again, his thoughts were interrupted by a sound, but this time it was close. Way too close. He pressed his back against the wall yet again.

It sounded like rustling, but....it wasn't coming down the hall.

Carter looked up, unable to see anything but darkness, yet....

" _Don't scream, Carter. It's me._ "

Familiar voice.

All pride aside, Carter felt like crying.

Before he had the time to humiliate himself, Lee was hanging down his jacket, right in front of Carter's face, so he recognized the material. " _Grab it and hold tight, we have to hurry._ " Lee whispered.

He didn't have to tell Carter twice, his partner grabbed it and shortly after with a bit of grunting, he was pulled up, his body pressing against some kind of pipes and then Lee's hands were grabbing his arms and pulling him on top of the pipes. Soon, Carter was kneeling on said pipes and as he found out rather quickly, resting between Lee's legs as his partner pressed him against his own body. Carter honestly didn't give a damn if that was just a way to secure him from falling, it was an offering for a hug and Carter took it, wrapping his arms tightly around Lee's torso and releasing a shaky breath. Lee made a pained noise and Carter whispered an apology.

_"God, Lee you have no idea how glad I am to see you. Are you okay?"_

_"Yes, but stay quiet for now, I saw them coming."_

Lee laid down on the pipes, looking through the gaps below and Carter followed suit. It was surprisingly easier to see the hall from up there, it was still dark but not as dark as it had been when he's been there himself.

Sure enough, shortly after they did so, they both heard footsteps and a man with blood covered machette walked underneath them. Carter's hand without a thought searched for Lee's and grabbed it, squeezing tightly. Lee made no effort to pull away.

The footsteps stopped soon, much to both Carter's and Lee's confusion and they heard the man speak in a low angry voice.

"That little shit slipped past me."

And then the footsteps were back, except now they turned to stomping as the man quickly made his way back. Carter and Lee looked at each other in the darkness, both seemingly thinking the same as they crawled forward, to where Carter originally walked, to where the man stopped.

The smell of death was intense and now they could hear a humming noise. When they finally looked down, they could see another dead man, laying in front of a set up fan.

Carter swallowed hard.

"Dead end," Lee whispered.

"It was a trap. I almost walked into a..."

He couldn't finish it, couldn't believe it. If it wasn't for Lee, he could have been down there, chopped up and butchered like a pig. He turned to his partner, swallowing back the tears that were threatening to spill. "You saved my life, Lee."

 

 


	4. Don't Turn Around No Matter What You Hear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why don't we just run away?  
> Never turn around, no matter what they say.  
> We'll find our way.  
> When the sun goes down  
> On this town,  
> There'll be no one left, but us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gave it one more try just because a friend was fairly unhappy with how I decided to end it.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW6NaX31eY4  
> ^song that helped this shit to get done finally.

They moved as fast as the tight space allowed them, crawling through the darkness, feeling for what laid ahead and listening for any footsteps. Carter was terrified, he didn't know how Lee felt, but he was scared out of his mind after he just barely escaped gruesome death and here he was, still fighting for survival, but he wasn't alone, thank god he wasn't alone because he wouldn't be able to hold it together if they killed Lee. Lee who was at this point his only anchor on sanity.

Carter crawled wherever was Lee leading them, he went this path when he was looking for him, so he must have checked the area and have a vague idea of where to go. And he definitely had a vibe of determination in his sense of direction as he moved without pause, if it was the will to live of fear of dying, nothing was holding him back and very shortly they  hit an end of a hallway.

When Carter saw Lee jump down, his fear spiked up for a moment, but he trusted Lee, he knew he had to trust him, so he jumped down as well, once again completely blinded by the darkness as when he first walked into it. He reached out with his hand, trying to feel for his partner, but he heard Lee moving and the sound of a door. Door? Carter paused. How did Lee know there's a door, how could he even see anything? All the halls looked the same, all with dead end, how did he -

" _I saw one of them walk through, it looks like they get in here periodically, like it's a game._ " Lee whispered, as if he could tell Carter's internal monologue.

The room behind the door was dark, but there was a window and the moonlight gave it a blue tint, revealing at least some of their surroundings. Carter walked in and Lee closed the door behind him, immediately moving around the room, looking for some source of light. Shortly after there was a bright blinding light and Carter had to squint, affected by the previous darkness, before he even recovered, Lee was moving again, pushing a table against the door.

Now Carter could see bunch of monitors on the wall of the small square room, all with night vision, all capturing various rooms of the structure they've been in. Multiple folders lined on the table that Lee pushed against the door appeared to have pictures and names, Carter picked one up and realized that these are all classified files, schedules of work schedules of various police officers, personal information, years of service. Carter shook his head in disbelief, how could they get to this? He always believed that it was a gang, _that's what they made him believe_ , he remembered grimly.

FBI was already working on their case, it's been years in fact and Carter remembered, oh he remembered alright.

"What is it?" Lee asked, nodding at the file in his hand. Carter handed it over to him.

"Personal files of police officers..." He frowned, "the ones that were in there with us probably."

Lee browsed the files intently, "No ordinary person can get a hold of these and-" Lee paused.

"Carter, your file is here too."

Carter shrugged, "Of course it is, yours should be there too."

Lee shook his head, "No, that's not what I mean," Lee pointed at the date of Carter's file, "this one is several years old."

Carter didn't respond, so Lee continued.

"You knew how they would try to trap us, because they tried to do it to you before, right?"

Carter nodded.

"I didn't know what I was getting into, it was FBI asking me for a favor," he shrugged, "thought I'd get promoted if I did it, so I didn't ask."

"What happened?"

"They assigned me a 'partner', we went on a fake stakeout, sat around like ducks for hours, we didn't even realize that the street we were on was suddenly completely abandoned and before we could do anything, everything went black. I woke up on the side of a road, face scraped raw from them throwing me out of the car, partner gone, FBI pissed." Carter paused, looking on the ground, "the head arrived two days later."

There was a moment of silence between them.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, but I should have and I didn't and here we are."

"Come on, Carter you know this is not your - "

Before Lee could finish they heard a loud bang on the door. Both jumped back, startled. Another bang. They looked at each other and ran for the opposite door, blindly running through. They were met with another hallway, but this one had a clear exit.

"Do you think there are traps?" Carter shouted.

"We don't have time to check!" Lee shouted back.

Before they even came near to the exit, a dark figure appeared out of nowhere and both Carter and Lee fell back as the unknown person swung at them with what Carter could guess was a machette. He thought this is it, they are dead, but Lee obviously thought otherwise and quickly recovered, charging the man.

At any other time, Carter would think that's a terrible fucking idea, but right now? It was try or die. He followed Lee and charged the man as well. The man gave him a solid blow to the side of his face that Carter had no doubt, would knock him flat on his ass if he wasn't pumped up with adrenaline, but he didn't budge and slammed his fist hard into that man's face, while Lee worked on prying the weapon out of his hand.

It couldn't have been more than ten second struggle before Carter felt the shift as Lee was suddenly slamming the machette down hard through the man's stomach, making him scream in agony, the scream nearly piercing Carter's ears and he quickly moved back, not wanting to have Lee accidentally slash him. He thought Lee would just stop there, but no, he pulled the machette out and to Carter's horror slammed it down again, this time shutting the man up for good.

Carter stared at Lee in complete shock at the unexpected savagery, but Lee didn't give him any time to think about what he just witnessed as he was pulling him up, staining his jacket with blood as he took a tight grip and they were suddenly running again. It was all a blur at this point. Door kicked open, shots fired and screaming in the distance, the sound of Lee screaming at him, the sight of Lee covered in blood of a man he just murdered. It was all unreal, he couldn't believe this nightmare.

Carter felt branches break underneath his feet, snapping him back to reality as he finally took in where they actually were. A forest. A freaking forest in middle of goddamn nowhere. It was still dark but not as it was before, the moonlight was back and even though the trees were blocking it's full shine, it still gave them enough to keep going forward.

Carter nearly jumped when a tree next to him sent splinters flying at him as a shotgun shell pierced it.

Lee forcefully shoved him ahead, machette still tightly in his other hand and Carter looked at him, while it was still hard to see, Carter saw enough to tell Lee was covered in blood, his blood? No. The man he killed. Definitely the man.

Then Lee was talking again.

"...No matter what"

Carter stared, puzzled.

"Listen to me Carter, you have to run and never turn back, no matter what you hear!" Lee was shouting, he was so close to him, why was he shouting? Hysteria.

He was scared.

They were both scared.

More shots pierced the trees around them and Carter increased his pace.

"Don't turn around, keep going!" Lee called out again.

"What the hell are you on about, what are you trying to do?!  " Carter called back.

But there was no response and very soon he found out why as the voices and shots were no longer aiming in his direction.

In fact, they were going complete opposite, they were sounding more distant. Carter stopped, but didn't turn back. Somehow Lee's warning holding him from following his own instinct.

"Lee?" He said, unable to call out anymore. Throat tight with fear.

No response.

Screams and shouts echoed around him instead, screams like he never heard before and he was sure, would never hear again. It sounded animalistic, inhuman and he shook. Someone's dead. He knew it.

The screaming continued and it hurt, even as far as it had to be, it made his ears hurt and he covered them, trying to block it out, trying to forget it, until suddenly, it was all gone. Silence.

He pulled his hands back, no more shots fired, no more yelling.

What happened?

_Don't turn around._

That's what Lee told him. Carter shook his head.

_I have to._

He turned around.

And saw nothing. Just trees, sea of trees and dead silence.

And then.

Then footsteps, so quiet compared to the screams, almost comforting. He stared, eyes adjusting to the dark and saw a figure approaching.

He didn't move.

The figure got closer and closer. Until it suddenly stopped several steps away from Carter.

There was a moment of silence before the person spoke out.

"You weren't supposed to turn around, Carter."

Once again, Carter felt like tearing up, but this time, it felt like something entirely different and he carefuly took several steps towards his partner. He didn't have to see it, he heard the blood dripping down Lee's hands.

He couldn't find the words to tell Lee if he was relieved or shocked at what he had just done.

Neither of them spoke, both men just stood there, facing each other, one covered in blood, carrying the scent of murder and the other as the silent witness.

 _Kill a killer and what does that make you?_ Carter thought. _Had to do it, there was no other way._

"It's okay, I will hand myself in, I will tell them everything, you didn't see it, you had nothing to do with it." Lee's soft voice pierced the silence and Carter looked up, horrified, before his expression changed to one of coldness.

"No."

Lee was obviously taken aback as he quickly blurted out, "What? Why?"

Carter simply walked closer and hugged him, ignoring all the blood smearing over him.

"What are you doing?!" Lee cried and tried to push him away. "I was trying to keep you out of it! Stop!"

Carter just held him tighter, until Lee stopped struggling and just dropped the machette in his hand in defeat.

"Why do you never listen to me..." Lee whispered.

Then Carter felt his partner's hands wrap around him as well. "I wanted to spare you."

"You don't spare your partner, your partner always goes with you no matter what."

We survived.

 

 


End file.
